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Five aircraft approaching London’s Gatwick Airport on December 18 2017 reported that green laser light was aimed at them. Four of the incidents occurred between 7:00 and 8:00 pm; the fifth occurred around midnight.

The illuminations occurred as they flew over Ashdown Forest, open heathland 30 miles south of London. Police said “We believe the person or persons responsible were located in the Hartfield area.” They asked for anyone with information to call them.

A Virgin Atlantic flight from London to New York on February 14 2016 was illuminated by a laser shortly after takeoff from Heathrow Airport, around 9:30 pm local time. The Airbus A340 continued but then turned back after crossing Ireland. The pilot declared a medical emergency, not threatening to life, due to the laser effects. On a recording of air traffic control communications, a person was heard to say “we have a medical issue with one of the pilots after a major incident … the other pilot is able to perform his duties.”

Virgin’s website stated that “Following this incident the first officer reported feeling unwell. The decision was taken by both pilots to return to Heathrow rather than continue the transatlantic crossing."

The airline said passengers would stay overnight and would then be able to fly to JFK Airport “as soon as possible”.

Police were attempting to find the laser source, said to be 6-7 miles from the airport. An article in the Daily Mail included a map showing the aircraft’s takeoff pattern, and the area where the laser beam was thought to have originated.

UPDATED February 15 2016: The British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) called for “the Government to classify lasers as offensive weapons which would give the police more power to arrest people for possessing them if they had no good reason to have them.” From a statement on BALPA’s website, reprinted here.

UPDATED February 17 2017: A forum post claiming to be from the Virgin Atlantic pilot gave details about the incident. The person posted under the handle “scroggs”. He wrote: “I am the Captain in this event…. It was a red beam, not a green one. It was indeed reported as and when it happened. The pictures we got show its ground position (which wasn’t Legoland as far as I can see), and will hopefully help those in the know to estimate its power and provenance.” Scroggs continued: “As was reported in the news, the FO did receive retinal damage from what appeared to be a 'lucky' passing sweep, but it's not permanent and will heal fully. There was no visual impairment during the flight, but there was no way of knowing (for me) that that would continue to be the case. The symptoms were slow in making themselves apparent. That's about all I'm prepared to say for now.” From post #173 in a thread on PPRuNE.org about the incident.

Background commentary from LaserPointerSafety.com

After around 40,000 laser incidents reported to U.S. FAA and U.K. CAA from 2004 through 2015*, as of February 14 2016 this is the first occurrence we are aware of where a commercial aircraft has turned around and not completed its flight, due to a laser incident from the ground.

There have been a few instances where a flight has changed course, such as pilot doing a “go around” on landing because of laser light on the first attempt.

Some police and rescue operations have had their missions disrupted by a laser; this has been common for the U.S. Coast Guard which has operational rules requiring a mission to abort if there is laser illumination.

In 2013, there was an incident where an aircraft made an emergency diversion 224 miles short of its destination, because a passenger onboard was using a homemade laser to burn several small holes in fabric near his seat. This is the only other emergency diversion we are aware of due to laser misuse.

As of February 14 2016, there is no confirmed, documented case of permanent eye injury to a civilian pilot (commercial, general aviation, or police/rescue) due to exposure in the cockpit to laser light from the ground.

In a fall 2014 case, first publicly reported about a year later, a British Airways pilot illuminated by a laser on landing at Heathrow was treated at a Sheffield hospital for spots on his retina. The case was reported in a medical journal in January 2016 which said the area had healed within two weeks. An expert close to the case, who directly examined the journal paper and the evidence, told LaserPointerSafety.com in February that he does not believe the retinal injury was laser-induced, and that it was “not confirmed” as a laser injury “despite what the journal paper says.”

In spring 2015, a pilot in a British Airways plane landing at Heathrow Airport was illuminated by what was assumed to be a “military-strength” laser, according to the general secretary of the British Air Line Pilot’s Association (BALPA). The man was treated at a Sheffield hospital for a burned retina in one eye, and has not worked since the incident, said BALPA’s Jim McAuslan in a November 23 2015 statement.

McAuslan said the identity of the person, who was acting as co-pilot at the time of the incident and thus was not operating the aircraft, could not be revealed at present due to it being reviewed by an “employment tribunal.” British Airways said they are investigating the claimed injury.

McAuslan said that “kids’” lasers could not cause injury but that laser weapons could now be purchased illegally. [Lasers over 1 milliwatt in power are not legal for sale to the general public in Britain.] He said “We’re very concerned about it. When something as strong as this comes on the scene it starts to worry us.”

BALPA is also concerned over a survey of its pilot members, showing that 50% had reported a laser/aircraft incident during the period from November 2014 to November 2015.

According to the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority, there have been about 4-5 laser incidents reported each day on average, over the past four years. From January 1 to June 30 2015, there were more than 400 laser incidents reported to CAA.

UPDATED - April 20 2016: Significant doubt has been cast on whether the eye damage was caused by a laser. In January 2016, a medical journal report was published by two ophthalmologists and a laser safety regulator. The report stated that there was no long-term negative effect on vision: “The pilot’s symptoms fully resolved 2 wk later.”

In February 2016 a very knowledgeable expert, who directly reviewed all evidence in the case, told LaserPointerSafety.com he “doesn’t believe it was laser-induced” and that the injury being caused by a laser was “not confirmed, despite what the journal paper says.”

This is confirmed by an April 2016 editorial written by three leading U.K. laser safety experts — including the laser safety regulator who co-authored the January 2016 medical journal report. The experts concluded the case is suspect for a number of reasons; they do not believe laser targeting caused the alleged injury. They wrote: “Only one case of alleged retinal damage to a pilot resulting from laser targeting of aircraft has been reported, although not in a peer review ophthalmic journal. This case is suspect because first and foremost, the metrology and exposure geometry would suggest insufficient energy could have entered the eye to produce irreversible damage and second the fundus anomaly is in the wrong location, the wrong shape and resulted in an extremely transient reported loss of VA [visual acuity] with full recovery.”

Analysis and commentary by LaserPointerSafety.com

If the pilot’s injury was caused by the laser exposure, this would have been the first documented case of a permanent laser eye injury to a civilian pilot. It would also have been the first case where a civilian pilot was unable to continue to be qualified to fly, due to laser exposure while in an aircraft.

There may be military cases of laser eye injury but if so, these would likely be classified and thus not be known to LaserPointerSafety.com. (There was a 1997 case of a military observer who had a claimed eye injury which was later found by laser injury experts to be not caused by his laser exposure.)

A south London teenager was arrested on July 27 2015 for aiming a laser pen at a Metropolitan Police helicopter. The aircraft was searching for a burglar when it was repeatedly hit. The crew identified the source, and the boy was arrested about an hour later. He was charged with endangering an aircraft.

A 32-year-old man was sentenced on October 14 2014 for aiming a laser pen at a London Metropolitan Police helicopter. He was fined £300, plus he had to pay a victim surcharge of £30 and court costs of £85 (total £415 or U.S. $666).

On July 19 2014, helicopter “India 99” was trying to locate 10 people walking across rooftops. Arkadiusz Wozniewski of the London suburb of New Malden aimed a laser pen at the aircraft. This caused the search to be called off.

Three young men were arrested June 25 2014 for aiming a laser pen at a Metropolitan Police helicopter flying over east London. Two of the suspects were 19 year old, the other was 20. They were arrested on suspicion of endangering the safety of an aircraft.

On February 11 2012, a police helicopter was flashed with a laser pen over a 12-minute period. The pilots “became completely dazzled” and broke off their search for a burglary suspect to deal with Lukasz Tetich, 28, who was quickly arrested in Croydon, a suburb 10 miles south of London.

At a hearing on June 11 2012, Tetich was fined £465 and his laser pen was ordered to be destroyed.

An 18-year-old pleaded guilty on January 12 2012 to willful obstruction of a police helicopter pilot in the execution of his duty, and of recklessly or negligently acting in a manner likely to endanger an aircraft or person in an aircraft. On February 10 2012 the teenager was sentenced to a four month detention and training order. This was reduced from six months due to the guilty plea.

On September 27 2011, a police helicopter was searching for suspects when a laser pen was aimed at it for about 10 minutes. The pilot was flashblinded and suspended the search while he recovered. The pilot was able to identify a suspect. Dean Riley, of Cator Cresent, New Addington in the London Borough of Croydon was arrested by ground officers. He initially said he was not involved. The top of the laser pen was found in his pocket.

Four months for aiming a laser at a helicopter

During sentencing, Riley’s lawyer described him as “extremely remorseful and regretful” and said Riley wanted to apologize. The judge said the pilot “could have crashed and caused untold damage and injury. The court takes offenses of this nature extremely seriously.”

19-year-old Islam Ali was handed a six month jail sentence after pleading guilty to endangering the safety of an aircraft. On March 6 2011 the teen was using a green laser pen outdoors and “wanted to see how far it would go.” He aimed at a police helicopter pilot who was flying an armed response team to a shooting incident. One press account said the pilot was temporarily blinded while another said that at 1,500 feet “the strength of the beam was not sufficient to affect [the pilot’s] vision.”

According to the judge, “this was an extremely serious offence which could have ended in several fatalities” to those on board and on the ground.

A 21-year-old UK woman was sentenced to 6 months in jail for shining a laser pen “for a laugh” at a police helicopter in Staines, just outside London Heathrow Airport. However, Natasha Forster’s sentence was suspended and she was ordered to carry out 180 hours of community service instead. The judge also ordered the laser to be destroyed.

A police inspector was quoted as saying “The sentence handed out sends a clear warning to anyone else considering such reckless behaviour. Endangering an aircraft is a criminal offence and it will not be tolerated.”

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